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A crucial piece of Brexit legislation has been delayed and will not be debated by MPs next week, ministers have confirmed, amid concerns of a potential Tory rebellion.

The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, which will transfer EU law onto Britain’s statute books to avoid a legislative cliff edge after Brexit, had been widely expected to be tabled for debate in the House of Commons next week.

But Andrea Leadsom, the Commons Leader, failed to mention the flagship Bill when she outlined the business to be discussed by MPs next week.

The omission will be taken as a sign that ministers have been unable to placate Tory rebels who are threatening to vote against the Government and force through changes to the Bill unless concessions are granted.

However, Ms Leadsom sought to downplay the significance of the decision to withhold the Bill from further debate as she insisted there was "nothing odd at all" about there being a "pause" between one stage of debate and the next.

More than 300 amendments and a series of new clauses have been proposed by MPs with a handful likely to have enough support from disaffected Tories to hand the Government a series of defeats.

Ms Leadsom told MPs they should find it “reassuring” that the Government is taking the time to look “very carefully” at all of the proposed changes and that ministers “responses will be well thought through”.

She added: "But I'd like to point out to members across the House who may not be aware of this is there's nothing odd at all about a pause between second reading and committee of the whole House."

Ms Leadsom cited examples of previous legislation which had experienced a lengthy delat between debate stages, like the Fixed-term Parliaments Act which had seen a six week pause between second reading and committee stage.

The Commons Leader said “there's neither anything odd or anything to fear from this slight pause”.

MPs want the Government to back the creation of a “triage” committee to decide which law changes could be made solely by ministers and which should be debated by MPs.

The Government is yet to comment directly on the viability of such a committee and has simply insisted that it is listening to MPs’ concerns.

Any further delays to the passage of the Bill are likely to raise eyebrows because the Government has a fairly narrow window of time to get it agreed.

Ministers will want the legislation finalised well in advance of the point of Brexit in March 2019.

But in order to achieve that they will have to successfully navigate the Commons where Theresa May commands a majority thanks only to the support of the DUP and a hostile House of Lords where the Government does not command a majority.

Pete Wishart, the SNP’s Commons leader, said the Bill had not been scheduled for debate because the Government was “just terrified of any possible defeats”.